[private]NEW DELHI:  On the progress of the probe in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in which Amit Shah former Gujarat minister and Narendra Mode’s close aide, has been arrested, for which the CBI filed a status report on Friday.

Apart from Shah, the other main accuseds who are suspended in the case are Dinesh M N, a Rajasthan cadre IPS officer, DIG D G Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian, both Gujarat cadre IPS officers.

Sheikh was killed in 2005 by the coordination of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh police respectively. He was charged of planning to assassinate Narendra Modi Gujarat Chief Minister.  The apex court was not satisfied by the probe carried out by Inspector General Geeta Johri and handed the investigation in the case to the CBI.

The apex court pointed out that there was large scale discrepancies in CID investigations. In this regard, Gujarat government said that once the charge sheet had been filed, then the court has no power to transfer the investigation to another agency. But the apex court had rejected the Gujarat government’s argument.

On their way from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra on November 22, 2005 Sohrabuddin, along with Kauser Bi and another person, was picked up during a joint operation by the police of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat from a bus.

In a fake encounter he was gunned down by the Gujarat Police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad. To destroy evidence the accused policemen also killed their accomplice Tulsi Ram Prajapati and Kauser Bi.

After Shah was arrested and charged with murder, the investigation into the fake encounter case by CBI has stirred a political controversy. In connection with the fake encounter case Shah, is the first minister in the Narendra Modi government to be arrested.[/private]